thirty-ninth jump;

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Any and all.
LOCATION: Gravity Couches and beyond.
WARNINGS: Maybe some swearing, or even some violence, and more than likely some implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness.
SUMMARY: Another month, another jump, another round of new faces.
NOTES: A feeling of deep dread greets you as you stumble out of the gravcouch, strong enough to hold you still for a long moment, searching your surroundings for the source of your wariness. Nothing becomes apparent, only your fellow passengers waking up. Eventually you gather the resolve to pick yourself up and start moving, the feeling fading slowly as you progress through routine.

New arrivals will find messages spraypainted across their lockers telling them not to follow their tattoo numbers, and instead to find a room on Floors 001-010.


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There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're deposited on the floor of a stark, sterile medical bay.

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There are others who have come before you, others who are awakening beside you. Some may be familiar to you, perhaps even friends. Others have much less amiable plans. Some are merely alien and inexplicable, but there are always those who might mean you harm.

After you catch your breath and your vision returns, you notice a number on the inside of your forearm. Maybe it's a familiar number. Maybe it means something. Maybe it's just a number. But the number—completely unique to you—is a tattoo, and it does not come off.

If you enter the room adjacent to the medbay, you will find a small locker with your number on it, surrounded by rows upon rows of identical lockers. Inside, you will find a few of your personal items, a communications device, and a ship's uniform in your exact size. The comms device is fully powered and connects directly to the ship's network; it's your only means of communication beyond physical conversation. Upon turning the device on, a neutral, automated voice will say, "Please take the blue lift to the passenger quarters." Any other attempts at communicating with the rest of the network are met only with static.

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Comments

[consequence]

No, of course not. [She glances to the locker and makes a face at the shirt.]

One of yours or just a random item they thought would rattle you?

[kutte]

That's a little invasive, don't you think?

[ though he has to wonder what his face looked like. had he looked rattled? jax can't tell. ]

It's my kid's hat. That and some other shit. Mostly harmless.

[ his dad's memoir would never be harmless, but jax wasn't saying otherwise. ]

[consequence]

[She had meant the ripped up shirt. She didn't mean anything by it, but the things that the ship tends to send their way is either useful or creepy.]

I haven't gotten anything in a while. It's probably for the best.

[kutte]

Maybe. It's hard to tell what the point is.

[ the hat, the book, then the whiskey, like a gift and a slap in the face all at once. jax shrugs, shakes a few loose locks of hair out of his face. ]

You want anything?

[consequence]

[Hayley takes a breath inward, shaking her head. She suddenly feels like she was bothering him, but it's not like she really had much to talk to him about. Maybe it's that she's missing her own child now that she thought she'd talk about that - but instead, she doesn't want to say anything at all.]

No, I was just -- just saying hi.

[kutte]

I didn't mean it like that. [ jax offers, tone softening. ] I meant, you want anything from home?

[ which isn't as simple a question as he's making it out to be, but it's something. an opening to talk, even if this isn't really the spot. jax tends to have more conversation at the lockers than anywhere else these days. ]

[consequence]

[She glances back to the little hat.]

I had a girl. [She looks back to Jax.] I'm think having something of hers would make being here worse.

[She takes a breath and shakes her head.] I'm sure that if I had it, I'd change my mind, though.